Vitamin C (VC) is also called as ascorbic acid. Some fruits and vegetables contain a great amount of natural vitamin C, such as cherries, kiwi fruits, tomatoes etc. With the expansion of the application range of vitamin C, synthetic vitamin C formulations are accepted by more and more people. However, vitamin C contained in natural food is totally different from synthetic vitamin C actually. In fruits and vegetables, natural vitamin C functions more efficiently as ascorbic acid with the assistance of rutin. Nevertheless, synthetic vitamin C is a pure chemical pharmaceutical formulation, the effect of which is far less than that of vitamin C. Moreover, the administration of a synthetic formulation often requires a great dosage, and in the case of long-term administration, oxalic acid would be formed in the body, while oxalic acid would bring about the potential threat of forming renal oxalate calculus. Nevertheless, natural vitamin C is exceedingly unstable, and would be easily oxidized and decomposed during processing and cooking, which results in a great loss during the preparation thereof into a formulation and greatly limits the industrial processing and wide application of natural vitamin C.
Collagen mainly exists in human body parts, such as skins, skeleton, eyes, teeth, tendons, viscera (including heart, stomach, intestines and blood vessels), and the function thereof lies in maintaining the morphology and structure of the skins and tissues and organs, and it is also an important raw material for the repair of a variety of tissue injuries. Collagen accounts for 70% of the components of human skin. Collagen is an important component necessary for maintaining normal activities of human body, and also a substance for keeping young and preventing aging in the meanwhile. Moreover, collagen also has the effects of preventing diseases, improving physical condition and so on, and has good cosmetological and health-caring functions. Collagen peptide is an extracellular protein, which is composed of more than three amino acids and prepared by the degradation processing of natural proteins. The absorption of protein by human body is realized in the form of a peptide, and due to the characteristics of its molecular structure and its relatively small molecular weight, the collagen peptide has good permeability and compatibility, and can be directly absorbed by human body without metabolism, which leads to an exceedingly high utilization efficiency in human body. Collagen peptide has significant effects in the aspects of improving skin conditions, delaying aging, and preventing and treating diseases such as osteoporosis.